(The Chicago Tribune posted the following article on its website on September 20.)
CHICAGO — Metra Rock Island line service to downtown was stalled for more than two hours after a freight train derailed Sunday morning in the South Loop.
The derailment of the Canadian National Railroad train happened about 8:15 a.m. near the 300 block of West 17th Street, said Chicago police spokeswoman JoAnn Taylor.
The engineer reported that four empty train cars fell on their side while rounding a sharp turn in the rail yards in the South Loop, Taylor said. A fifth car, a tanker carrying syrup also lost footing on the tracks but did not fall over, she said.
There were no injuries, and a preliminary investigation determined the cause of the derailment was improper weight distribution, Taylor said.